The Pakistani actors got together to remember the innocent lives that were lost last year due to the barbaric attack in Peshawar…

Ali Zafar, joined forces with Pakistani colleagues Fawad Khan, Mahira Khan, Humaima Malik, Sanam Saeed, Imran Abbas Naqvi and many others to pay a musical tribute to the horrific Peshawar attacks which took place last year. Of the 150 killed brutally in the attack, 133 were school children in the army-run school. As the world was left aghast at the monstrosity, many gathered to lend support to the parents who lost their kids to terrorism.

Ali Zafar decided to write a song as a tribute to the late children. The video of this heart-warming song features many Pakistani actors like Fawad Khan, Mahira Khan, Imran Abbas Naqvi, Humaima Malik, Sanam Saeed etc. The song titled “Urainge” speaks of a utopic world which has love, peace, harmony and happy children! The world which seems like a distant dream in the light of the present horrors humanity faces, makes us hopeful of a better place to live in. The song is composed entirely by Ali Zafar.

In a statement about the Peshawar school attack, Ali was quoted saying, “What we went through on the the day of 16/12 cannot be described in words. If not for ourselves, let us rise together for those children who gave their lives for our awakening. Let’s stand united for them and for our own children. Let’s look into their eyes and decide what we intend to leave behind for them.”

It is announced that all the proceeds earned from the downloads of the song will go into building schools for the children of Pakistan.

Watch the touching video of Urainge here and tell us what you think of this noble initiative.

After a deluge of heroines, our neighbouring state has started contributing in the lead actor department as well…

Pakistani actresses have been imported in Bollywood time and again. Actresses like Humaima Malik, Salma Agha, Meera, Veena Malik, Sara Loren, Somy Ali have done their bit in Bollywood. However, the trend seems to be changing of late. Many a big budgeted film are taking lead actors from across the border and those films are also doing pretty well. So we decided to pit them against each other and check as to who do the fans love the most.

Fawad Khan: He debuted in B-Town with this week’s release Khoobsurat. People have been praising him a lot for his performance because he held his nerve really well when cast opposite the much senior Sonam Kapoor. He is very famous for his Pakistani film Khuda Kay Liye and was also very popular because of his TV show Zindagi Gulzar Hai, which also aired in India.

Ali Zafar: He debuted in B-Town with Tere Bin Laden, which did exceptionally well with the critics and the fans. Because of that film Ali was catapulted to fame and a long journey in Bollywood. He has since then done films like Luv Ka The End, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, London Paris New York, Chashme Baddoor, Total Siyapaa. He is also gearing up for Kill Dil and post that will also be seen in the sequel to Tere Bin Laden. He had first left a mark in audiences mind with his music albums like Huqa Pani, Masty and Jhoom.

Imran Abbas Naqvi: He debuted in B-Town last week with Creature 3D opposite Bipasha Basu. However, the movie didn’t do well, it was his character that was praised by everyone. He also worked a lot on television and many of his shows were also aired in India. He definitely has great potential and it’s evident by listening to his interviews as well.

Wethinks these actors have done considerably well in our film industry. So go ahead BollywoodLifers, let us know as to who among them do you like the most and why.

With every actor kissing onscreen, is it time for Emraan to reinvent himself

Wearing all those stone-studded rings on his fingers hasn’t had much of an effect on Emraan Hashmi’s career, of late. For some time now, Bollywood’s serial kisser has been facing bad luck at the box-office. Despite liplocks being a part of his last four releases — with Neha Dhupia and Sagarika Ghatge (Rush), Huma Qureshi (Ek Thi Daayan), Vidya Balan (Ghanchakkar) and Humaima Malick (Raja Natwarlal), there’s not a hit in sight. Here’s why…

Everyone’s doing it!

Emraan’s USP is heavy liplocks. Kissing on screen used to be a big deal when he first started out, but now every other actor is doing it, with as much gusto. The smoochers include: Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Ranveer Singh… Even Shah Rukh Khan who had sworn never to lock lips with an actress on the big screen, too agreed to do not one but three kisses with Katrina Kaif in Jab Tak Hai Jaan. With on-screen smooching losing its novelty, it’s no longer something unique to Emraan.

Serial kisser to serial hisser?

His uncle and producer Mukesh Bhatt, who gave the actor a break and followed it with many successful movies, agrees, “The whole ‘serial kisser’ thing doesn’t work anymore. Everyone is doing it. Also, it’s not just about him kissing an actress. It has to be done in the right manner. The entertainment value and the music of his past films have worked wonders for him.” With four movies that have fared badly, Emraan is now banking on Ungli with Dharma production. Followed by Mr X, produced by the Bhatts, with whom he has a hit record. Emraan’s bald avatar in the film that uncle Mahesh Bhatt tweeted created quite hungama. Maybe that is what is needed. Emraan has been reduced to a one-trick pony. He has to show the audiences that he is capable of more. Mr X will be followed by another Bhatt production — Hamari Adhuri Kahani — opposite Vidya Balan directed by Mohit Suri. “Emraan will bounce back big with them,” says Mukesh confidently.

The dream team

Emraan began his career and has given his biggest hits with the Bhatt banner. So all eyes are on their next film together. Mukesh Bhatt is sure that their forthcoming ventures will have a good run at the box office. He says, “Why did the combination Rajesh Khanna-Shakti Samanta, Amitabh Bachchan-Manmohan Desai, Shah Rukh Khan-Yash Chopra work? It’s because of the great team that they made together. Similarly Emraan Hashmi and Bhatts is a combination that always works at the box office.” The fact that Emraan’s last four movies haven’t set the cash registers ringing doesn’t bother him. Bhatt adds, “Success of the actors worry those who work with stars. We never work with stars. We have made Emraan. He is a part of the family. He started out with us and we’ve always worked well together. Vishesh films is like China, we don’t depend on support from others. We rely on stories, music and content to make our movies work.”

Raja Natwarlal which released on Friday (August 29) hasn’t really lived up to the expectations at the box office

Emraan Hashmi’s latest offering has failed to get cash registers jingling. Directed by Kunal Deshmukh, Raja Natwarlal so far has managed to collect around Rs 17 crore nett at the Indian box office, an entertainment trade portal reported. The film co-starring Paresh Rawal, Kay Kay Menon and Pakistani actress Humaima Malik hit the theaters last Friday and got off to a decent start. On day 1, Emraan starrer collected Rs 4.91 crore nett at the ticket windows. The scenario was pretty much the same over the weekend as Deshmukh’s directorial venture fared averagely at the BO. Though Emraan and his co-star Humaima went all out to promote Raja Natwarlal, their film hasn’t raked in big moolah as expected.

According to Boxofficeindia, “Raja Natwarlal had a poor weekend all over as the film started low on Friday and a big drop on Saturday which sealed its fate. the collections on Sunday were better but it was irrelevant. The weekend business of Raja Natwarlal was lower than films like Hate Story 2, Yaariyan and Hasee Toh Phasee which were smaller films released on a lower number of screens.”

Kunal Deshmukh’s con film is doing a lukewarm business at the box office

Ever since the trailers were out and promotions forRaja Natwarlal were on full swing, the experts had predicted the film to perform averagely at the box office. And going by the latest figures which we have got regarding Emraan Hashmi-Humaima Malik starrer, it looks like the filmi punters have got it spot on with their predictions on film’s fate.

Emraan Hashmi’s comeback filmRaja Natwarlalhas minted Rs 11 crore at the box office at the close of two days of business. The film which released on Ganesh Chaturthi has been panned by critics and has got a mild response from the audience. Critics claimed the Kunal Deshmukh’s con film to be dull and predictable and the bad word of mouth publicity is expected to hamper the film’s business in days to come.

Given the festive spirit of Ganeshotsav, the second day was a downer for this film as it did not pick up as expected. With no competition at the box office, the makers would be concerned with Raja Natwarlal‘s performance. Will the film manage to pick up its act on Sunday? Lets wait and watch!

The actor turned politician was recently seen stating that Pakistani TV serials are superior to Bollywood films

Zindagi has been creating waves since its inception, much has been talked about the fine quality of its serials as well as the actors across the border. Recently during the promotional spree of Raja Natwarlal, veteran actor Paresh Rawal praised Pakistani TV shows over Bollywood films.

In an interview given to a media daily, Rawal is quoted to have said that Pakistani shows are far more superior to what is produced in India, forget Hollywood. He also said that the audience of India should not be taken for granted.

Emraan Hashmi starrer has got a decent opening at box office

The Emraan Hashmi-Humaima Malik-Paresh Rawal starrer Raja Natwarlal has managed to rake Rs 4.91 crores at the box office on the opening day. While the figures may not suggest that the film is doing great business when compared to the openings of a Salman Khan or a Shah Rukh Khan film, but one has to say that Kunal Deshmukh’s film has raked in a decent amount of moolah at the box office.

Emraan Hashmi’s con flick has earned Rs 1.72 crores in Mumbai, where the film has not performed so well in the other parts of the nation. The film has been getting mixed reviews, but it is negative word of mouth publicity that may affect the film’s fortunes in the days to come. But one good thing for the makers of Raja Natwarlal is that there is currently no competition to the film at the box office and given the festive season of Ganeshotsav around, the film may pick up its business in days to come.

The film has opened to mixed reviews from fans and critics, but that does not deter the director and the actors to go all out for promoting their film

Emraan Hashmi has come back to big screen after a long break of a year with Kunal Deshmukh’sRaja Natwarlaland he seems to be leaving no stones unturned to make sure the buzz around the film is up and going.

The movie, which released this Friday, has been making heads turn due to the latest import from Pakistan, hottie Humaima Malik. While the film has opened to a lukewarm response, the trio of hero, heroine and director are confident about film’s success and are busy promoting Raja Natwarlal.

Emraan, Humaima and Kunal talked about their film at a promotional event and even posed for few pictures for the shutterbugs. Only time will tell the fate of the film at the box office, and only then one can decide if the promotional strategies have worked or not.

Awaiting a big release, Raja Natwarlal, Emraan Hashmi, seems to be in a pretty jovial mood when we caught up with him at the Disney UTV Office. The actor in a small tete-a-tete opens up about his last film’s failure, his future projects and about his equation with Alia Bhatt and Mahesh Bhatt. Excerpts…

Raja Natwarlal was told to be a conman film, but watching the trailer it seems that there is less of conman-ship and more of a revenge drama in the film. How do the two combine and form the story line?

Conning people is Raja’s profession. He does that to earn his daily bread and butter so that he can get his ladylove, Humaima Malik‘s character, out of the messy world of bar dancing. In all this process he somehow manages to piss off some big personality, who in turn harms him. Now conning is the only thing that Raja knows. So he uses that to take his revenge against the villain. That’s how the two aspects come together. The fight between the two is like David vs Goliath and therefore, he needs someone who can teach him the tricks of the trade better. That’s where Paresh Rawal’s character comes into the picture.

You are known to not give a long gap between releases. However, your last film Ghanchakkar, released in June 2013 and you are coming up with Raja Natwarlal now. Why such a big gap?

This film took a long time to make. I had a release last year Ungli with Karan Johar and Kangana Ranaut. But it got shifted and we were unable to find a suitable release date for that film. All of these together culminated to the fact that I had a lot of gap between two releases of mine. Also getting the star cast together, making the shooting locations available and all such factors took almost a year for this film to make it to the big screen.

Talking about Ungli, when can we finally see the film?

Ungli will release on November 21 this year. Hum audience ko ungli nahi kar rahe is baar and it is final that the movie will see the light of the day in November. (We are not screwing with the audience)

Paresh Rawal, who is an integral part of the film, must have had his date issues considering he is an MP?

Not really. He had to take sometime off for his election campaign and that was it. We understood that fact and we shifted accordingly. But apart from that working with him was fantastic. Our relationship in the film is like that of Kung fu Panda. My character is very impulsive, jumps up on his feet at every given instant, doesn’t think before he talks and all such gawky things. Paresh’s character is completely different, just like Zen master. He is disciplined and that is what has made him a great con artist. It is the chemistry between the two of us that has worked out very well and it is he who teaches me the big con.

Talking about Ghanchakkar, it didn’t create that much of an impact. How do you get affected when your films don’t work?

It is very essential to detach yourself and not let the failure affect you. Ghanchakkar was a film that we all believed in. It was something different but I guess when you are making something different you should be ready to accept a different box office fate. Failures don’t affect me as films come and go and what matters is to take a stride and learn from films that don’t work. Definitely it got me upset as I expected it to do a lot more in numbers but it didn’t. I had to accept the fate and move on.

…and is it the same when you get a big blockbuster hit? Do you just move on?

Yeah. I do. I feel that if I let that thing hit me, I might not be able to deliver properly. I feel that if I don’t let go then I might not have the hunger to work in the next film. I have always noticed that whenever I am down after a couple of flops that’s when I tend to do my best and come up with my best performance. I guess that greed to do well is very important for an actor.

Post The Dirty Picture you have always picked up projects that are way different and not like your past films. Is that a conscious decision?

To be honest, every film has its own uniqueness. Raja Natwarlal is more commercial and can’t be compared to a Ghanchakkar or a Shanghai. The Dirty Picture also in a way was semi-commercial.

As is always the case, Emraan Hashmi films have great music. Raja Natwarlal too has. Which is your favourite track from the film?

Tere hoke rahengey is something that I love to listen to.

Alia Bhatt, your cousin, has been termed as the next Emraan Hashmi. How do you feel about that?

(Laughs) It’s unfortunate. I guess the kind of work that she is doing is phenomenal and the press should find some other name for her and let the serial kisser tag be.

Do you want that tag all for yourself?

It is one tag that has just stuck and it doesn’t go off. It’s just got stuck to my name.

You made onscreen kissing in Bollywood a light, regular feature. Do you think you changed the way people think about the term ‘romance’ in Bollywood?

Yeah I have. I have changed the way romance is depicted onscreen. However, some people also think that I have corrupted the way people think about romance. So everyone has their own view points, but yeah I feel I have brought about a change.

Sometime back there were reports about you having a fall out with Mahesh Bhatt, because of Raja Natwarlal promotions and Mr X shooting dates clashing. Was that all a publicity stunt?

Actually it wasn’t publicity. Mahesh Bhatt was actually pissed at me for taking out some days from Mr X shooting and giving it to Raja Natwarlal. So instead of calling me up and being mad at me, he just tweeted. That’s what he loves doing. He tweets more than he talks on the phone. So even I thought that I will revert back with a tweet. And then it just kept on getting bigger and bigger. But he is family and all got sorted out after a few days and now everything is back to normal.

What other future projects do you have?

Am working on Mr X right now. Karan Johar’s Ungli will release for sure in November. Then I have my Hollywood project Tigers which premiers next week at an international film festival. We are still looking for an Indian release date for the film. Lets hope that happens soon.

The two will soon be seen together in Raja Natwarlal

Actor Kay Kay Menon, who teamed up with Emraan Hashmi for the first time in forthcoming con film Raja Natwarlal, marvels over his co-star’s dedication and professionalism.

Emraan will be seen as the conman who is out to take revenge from bad guy Kay Kay in the Kunal Deshmukh’s directorial venture.

“Emraan is a very cool person. He never takes tension and he comes prepared with all his scenes on the set. He works very professionally,” Kay Kay said here in an interview.

“All the scenes that we did together, I enjoyed a lot. I loved the fact that there is a person who works with such dedication,” added the actor who has proved his mettle in much appreciated celluloid offerings like Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Life in a Metro and Black Friday.

Slated for a Friday release, it also features Paresh Rawal and Pakistani actor Humaima Malik.